Jagged Fabrication -~
by Spalose
Summary: Seerow went to a lonely planet to teach a race of slugs the glories of science, art, and space flight. But those slugs weren't the Yeerks.... (original Yeerk concept © K.A. Applegate)


Jagged Fabrication

**Jagged Fabrication – By Dana Pull**

Lightening streaked across the sky, as Chaed, Reao, and Muyyer watched their new teacher do a few things they had never seen before. It was always a pleasure and exciting experience to watch the great Seerow, who had flown to them in his starship.' They were still working at figuring out how he did it. Geigher stood in the back, his Gedd host's eyes twitching. He always stood in the back, never really coming up to the front unless Seerow called on him to try something new. But one thing was for sure, he was always willing to get in on the hands-on things.

This here is the reactor chamber. It stores and maintains the energy needed to keep this ship aloft, and all of its major functions working. Seerow said. But his speech was also something bewildering. Instead of speaking through the mouth, which even for the Farlan, it was hard, Seerow spoke from his mind, and all his thoughts were heard in their heads. Seerow was called an Andalite. He was blue, like the host bodies of their Gedds, but stood about 3 heights taller, with four legs for support, a long tail with a hideous spike at the end and two prehensile eyes on top of his head. He didn't consume food, however, and it puzzled the Farlan.

Now, who can tell me what is it that I just said? Seerow called out to the crowd of Farlan. Geigher almost immediately rose his hand in the back. Seerow pointed to him and nodded. Geigher?

Through the Gedd's slurred speech he said, "The reactor maintains and distributes energy to the rest of the ship, its most at work when the shields and weapons are in use at the same time during combat. There are other standard reactors, smaller, of course, in the rest of the ship, that will simultaneously turn on if the main one's power is not efficiently being distributed." There was no doubt about it, Geigher was the quickest learner of the group.

Seerow made an expression with his face that showed happiness. A smile. Yes! Very good, Geigher, you are learning very quickly! Geigher nodded and calmed, the expression on his host's face not changing. And then he left. He always left the sessions early. But it didn't seem to bother Seerow, after all, his quickest student shouldn't need to stay for further explanation. He already understood everything about the starship. And so the session ended. Chaed, Reao, and Muyyer met up afterwards to talk.

Chaed bent down near a small puddle, and slipped out of the Gedd, as Reao and Muyyer. In here they could communicate easier and more privately. Reao murmured, "Is it just me, or does anyone think that Geigher is learning a little _too _fast? How come it's so difficult for the rest of us?" He swam back and forth in confusion. Chaed tried to answer, but hesitated. Muyyer floated there, clicking. Off in the distance, another Farlan was sitting quietly. Muyyer beckoned, "Who's there?" The Farlan twitched and shot up to the surface, re-entering its own host. And within seconds, Gedd hands dipped in and fished out the three. And then in swift movements, killed them all. They were dropped back into the puddle. Geigher hobbled off triumphantly.

4 months later

Seerow ended what may have been his last lesson with the Farlan. They had been learning quite well, especially Geigher, who learned right on the spot and seemed very interested in genetics. Oddly, though, he seemed to leave the lessons more frequently everyday. And the strange disappearance of three of his regular students made Seerow skeptical. But nonetheless, things like that happened all the time, everywhere, on every planet. It was no more unusual than anywhere else.

A knock came at the door of Seerow's lander, and so he went to it, releasing the door manually because the ship was shut down.

"Good morning, teacher."

Good morning, Geigher. How goes everything with your mock genetics? Anything new? Seerow asked his top student.

"Nothing much new, noI heard you were leaving?" Geigher asked, with false innocence, looking sadly up at his teacher. Yet another manipulation. Seerow just nodded, leading Geigher back to the door.

Do not worry, my friend. What I have taught you will be very useful, and hopefully, we can meet again someday. If you'll excuse me, I have some things to do before I leave. Seerow said. And Geigher was out the door in the dirt, alone. But his mind was plenty busy.

"How naïve you are, Seerow, to consider me a friend." With that, Geigher left the lander site, and walked a little ways to the swampy forest. There, dozens of other Gedds were flipping through their holo-textbooks, and quizzing each other. Geigher just peered at them all sardonically. "And how naïve thesemy people, no, not my people, my potential enemies, how naïve they are to think of me as a friend," he muttered to himself. A couple of Gedds hobbled over to Geigher.

"What do you want?" Geigher asked, peering at them; three total. One of them stepped closer. "We want to know what you knowwill you teach us?" The others nodded quickly. Geigher's mind burst open with ideas. These people could be my comrades perhaps. Maybe I can expand my knowledge!' He nodded.

"Yes, I will teach you, but you must promise to do everything I say, even if it's against your judgement, and even if it endangers some of our own people. Are you willing to kill for the knowledge? Not that I'm saying that there will be killing just yet. But if you are going to know what I know, you're in, and in forever. Never out. Agreed?" Geigher asked them. One of them fled. Geigher quickly hopped in his way, and the other two grabbed him by the legs.

"You're in or out," one of the others said. The Gedd in their arms just flailed. Geigher opened his book bag.

"Hold his mouth, do not let him yelp," Geigher said. The others clasped his mouth shut, while Geigher pulled out something hideous. An Andalite weapon, a shredder, as they had learned to call it. He placed it up to the Gedd's neck. Hideous squeals came from the captive.

Zzew! The Gedd fell limp. A small slug plopped out of its ear, and one of the others picked it up, tossing it in his mouth, chewing it until it died and spit it out. Geigher seemed insanely pleased. "Come friends, we have much to learn." The new group carried the body and buried it in the sand behind a tree.

The next night, Seerow's lander was already powered up and hovering in the middle of the grassy area where he would be taking off. Geigher and a few of his comrades stood in the back, watching. A few others had joined them in the shrill of the night. Under Geigher's hideous display of power the night before, it was hard not to bend to his will.

My friends, Seerow spoke up, standing on the ramp leading up to the craft. His arms waved with excitement. Today I leave you with knowledge that will help you achieve flight among the stars. The power to explore, and to know. The power to see. I give you the knowledge of science and math to understand. And with that, I will not doubt your excellence. Goodbye, my dear friends. The Andalite walked up the ramp, and the door closed. With one last wave through the cockpit shield, the lander took off into the sky and disappeared.

The crowd dispersed, feeling empty, hollow, and lonely. But at the same time, invigorated, and full of ideas. Geigher's troop went the opposite direction of the tribe. Within minutes, they were huddled together, contemplating their victorious siege to come.

2 years later

The morning was awake with ambition. The Farlan Aero-Space factories were mining, the Central Government, though weak at the heart, was growing at a steady pace, and in the grassy plains, the first land speeders and small rockets were being tested.

About eight miles west of the major Farlanic city of Ginn, a small group of geneticists were working silently in their labs. Concealed underground, this renegade band of Farlan geniuses were able to do their work in peace. Geigher, a Farlan with a lust for power, ran the small group, whom now had increased to thirteen members. Dwep, his second-in-command, filled in ideas and calculated things when Geigher didn't want to think. A new project was underway, and the whole scientific community down there was excited.

The Project was unofficially known as Project Y. The letter "Y" stood for the Farlanic word "Yeerk" or "big cousin." On the verge of creation was a new species, similar to Farlan in their looks, though four times as large, but capable of controlling much larger hosts. Dwep, not counted as one of the Thirteen,' only knew about the project, but not _why_ it was taking place.

The young scribe wandered into his master's office one day to contemplate. It was empty of course, because the Thirteen were all in the labs all day. Geigher was always ahead of the others, making sure everyone was on time, doing what they should be doing, and knowing about _everything._ Dwep noticed that a few of the shrewd cabinets in Geigher's office had been left open. Curious as he was, he stepped closer, looking inside.

The cabinets were filled with piles of papers and stacked folders. On the top was a black folder, filled many pieces of paper. On the tab, the label, "Our Plan." Dwep looked up from the cabinet and opened the folder warily. Inside, scribbled in the language that the Farlan had invented, was a list of dates and proposals. One of such was "Generation 348, mid-cycle, eighth day – Clone the laboratory tests and test them in Gedds. If successful, clone them by the hundreds." Dwep blinked.

He sat on the floor and continued reading. As he flipped the page, he noticed grotesque pictures and nightmarish weaponry. All kinds of vehicles, and at the bottom of the page, a date and the words, "Burn Ginn down. Burn it all. Take all free Farlan." Dwep shockingly dropped the folder, scattering the papers about. _Geigher? Engineering these organisms for evil?? _Footsteps were heard coming from the door. Dwep stumbled over and tried to pick up all the papers. But he didn't get any farther than one paper before he was shot in the back with a shredder. Disgusted, Geigher carried out the corpse and laid it to rest in the swamp behind their labs.

The loss of Dwep only seemed to make their work more easy. Known now as the Circle of Thirteen, the group of geneticists worked round the clock to perfect their creations. During the mid-cycle on the seventh day, the first Yeerk was successfully born.

_New senses, new surroundings, they flooded my brain. Brain? What's a brain? Yeerk? What are they saying? Blue figures swarmed around the glass container. How did I know it was glass? How did I know who I was? I am Yeerk, I thought. Allegiance. Justice. Revenge._

One of the scientists, Qabber, noticed movement in the Yeerk's brain. "He's certainly alive. Look! He's swimming!" All thirteen of them cheered. Geigher stepped forward and pressed his Gedd nose on the glass. He smiled at his child, his creation, his weapon. It swerved around and around, adjusting to its environment. And then it stopped, looking back at him. This process lasted long into the night. Geigher did not take his face off the glass, and the slug didn't move from its stationary position in the tube. In the morning, The number of Yeerks in the tube had multiplied to three.

"If I may suggest, sir--" Oyami started. Geigher just solemnly looked at his creations.

"I cloned them myself, Oyami. Within time they will mate," Geigher seemed to have an insane expression on his face, but Oyami shrugged it off as You're the boss.' In the next couple of days, The bottom of the tube was a mass of the three writhing slugs.

"They're twining, getting ready to reproduce. Soon we will have hundreds." Geigher said to a nearby Farlan. His comrade just nodded, and again, that night, Geigher stayed up with his Yeerks, watching them complete the sexual process, and then in the morning, as they began to splinter away into grubs, as the Farlan did.

"YES!" Success! Geigher hobbled around happily, tiredly, insanely. The tube teemed with life, the small grubs swishing around, thousands of them! The geneticists filled the lab and all crowded around the tube. The room was filled with compliments from the other scientists. Their long-term work had paid off. The Yeerks were born.

The next couple of weeks were shared with the Yeerks, and teaching the newborns how to use Gedd hosts. These hots of course, were taken from the surrounding landscape from the hives they had built. Gedds lived in den-like hive structures, piled on top of each other. They barely moved on their own.

The first Yeerk created was named Ermo. His offspring, all entitled to a number, Ermo 3409, for instance, was the 3409th Yeerk grub to divide away from the rotting three bodies only weeks before. Teaching the Yeerks was no difficult task. Because they were bred from Farlan DNA, they shared the same instincts to take over a host and control it. And so, after the first generation of Yeerks were born, so began to second, and the third. In one month, the Yeerk population had gone from 3,000 to 80,000.

Not all of them had hosts of course. With this kind of advanced mating, the Gedd reproductive cycle could not keep up. But aside from that, Oyami had noticed that they were way behind their schedule. Their plan to attack Ginn had been long overdue. He pointed this out to Geigher.

"Of course not yet, I was waiting to build up an army! Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow" Geigher replied, trailing off, walking along the immense pool dug into the ground. It was too hard to manage the population of slugs in tubes anymore, so a Yeerk Pool' had been built to ensure their comfort. Another night came, and the lab officials left their hosts to sleep. The morning only brought horror.

Oyami was the first to re-enter the lab. What he found nearly made his host's heart stop. Geigher's host body had been ripped apart, and there were streaks of black burning earth running up and down the floors and ceiling. Geigher's insides were strewn apart on the floor, each organ splayed out in a different pattern. 

With horror in his eyes, Oyami glanced over at the pool. It was bubbling. No, not bubbles, Yeerks. Jumping up and down. Their combined echolocation clicks penetrated his eardrums. He clutched his head. Then a burning sensation down his spine. He snapped his neck to find more Gedds running at him, with shredders in hand. And then he was gone.

Kepling 4301 tried to reconnect the computers that had been damaged in the attack. Geigher's body was tossed aside, thrown into the pool to feed on. Others wiped out the rest of the colony. Yukni 34 walked in, nudging Kepling.

"Are they all dead?" Kepling asked, getting the computer to start up. Yukni nodded, showing Kepling a folder. It was black, and on the tab it said, "Our Plan." Kepling opened the folder and looked through the papers.

"It was found in the Creator's office," Yukni said, pointing off toward the exit to the lab. Kepling nodded again, still looking at the folder. Then he looked up at Yukni.

"Gather the rest of us, we'll meet at the surface at dusk. We're carrying out this attack. We'll take over, if our creators wouldn't. But first, I want these eleven Yeerks to meet me in the Creator's office in six hours. You too. We have some things to discuss."

The room was silent. The Yeerks requested were in a circle, Kepling standing on a stone. Their eyes were on him. Kepling held up a limb and spoke.

"I have gathered you all here because each of you have been special in one area. This meeting is to let you all know that this is the beginning of a society. You are all members of our new Council. Taken from the number of our Creators, we are the Council of Thirteen. If a lower rank gives you attitude, you know how to deal with them. Just think of what happened to the creators. We will control the others, they are the workers, while we are the hive."

The group stood for a moment in silence, adhering to the new words, spoken. But they understood, and by the end of the meeting, four minutes before they should be at the surface. The crown of the Yeerk Hierarchy was created. Kepling was made Emperor, as well as head of the Council.

The trip to the surface did not take long. The Yeerks had figured out how to run the land speeders up the slopes to the surface, and quickly transport their 10,000 some odd regiments upward to the night sky. The Council left last, closing up the lab.

Kepling was hoisted into the air by two of the other Council Members. The black folder curled up into a megaphone amplified his voice, into which he yelled.

"Yeerk people! Tonight, we attack the Farlan! With our creators gone, we are free to carry out their wishes! We will control the planet! The Yeerks before you in a line are the Council of Thirteen! Treat them with disrespect, and the privilege of having a host will be taken away! Tonight, we are one unit! But tomorrow! After the capital has been seized, ranks will be awarded! And in the coming years, or knowledge will take us past the stars, and to the Andalites, where we will destroy them! We will destroy the Andalites! They only taught our creators that they were better! But tonight and on, we prosper! We will prevail! We will succeed!"

The crowd went into an uproar. Kepling jumped down and pointed to a pile of shredders, almost 400 of them. The crowd ran towards the pile and after four seconds of frenzy, the pile was gone. The shredders could be heard powering up. Next, from a secret storage room, that had only been discovered days ago, the hideous-looking crafts and land speeders depicted in the Creator's files were rolled out to be used.

The army of ramshackle troops assembled in front of the exposed labs, pointing towards Ginn, still far in the distance, but all the more a point of perseverance. And so they started on a trek that wouldn't last more than a day. By nightfall the next day, Ginn was theirs.

11 months later

Spacecraft were being manufactured left and right. Factories everywhere, built by Yeerks, and maintained by Yeerks. The city of Ginn was now a metropolis of interstellar achievement. Kepling looked down upon his city and smiled devilishly. From his glance at the window he turned and faced a large table. Seated was the Council of Thirteen.

"My friends, look how far we have come," Kepling said. He walked over to his empty seat and hopped up. Yeerk power had seized the planet.

A Yeerkish broadcast: "Farla is no more. With all living Farlan imprisoned, the planet is ours. The spread of cities will soon commence. The planet will be teeming with Yeerks, and ou rise to power will be fulfilled. But never will Geigher's legacy be fulfilled until the Andalites lay in heaps of death. Soon, our time will come."


End file.
